Fire-proof building



UNITED STATES TATnNT OFFICE.

ROBERT S. ORITOHELL, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-PROOF BUILDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,309, dated March 26, 1889.

Application filed February 21, 1887 Serial No. 228,388. No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT S. CRITCHELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire-Proof Buildings, which I desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States. and of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore in the construction of lire-proof buildings adifficulty which has been encountered has been that, no matter how thoroughly lire-proof the walls the walls and the doors in the Walls, the latter are likely to be left open, so that when combustion occurs on one side of the wall it may be communicated through the door to that part of the building situated upon the other side of the wall.

My invention has for one of its objects to overcome this liability to the spread of iire,

and to that end I propose to separate the combustible portions of the building bya fireproof wall and form an intermediate'vacant portion by two secondary walls,which forni angular recesses or extensions, and locate doors at the rear ends of said recesses or extensions, so that these doors communicate,respectively, with the combustible portions of said building. With this construction, even if both the doors or sets of doors are left open, fire passing through one of the doors will iind nothing to feed upon in the vacant inclosed space, and therefore cannot reach the combustible portions of the building upon the other side of the wall.

A still more serious difficulty in the construction of fire-proof buildings has been that the stairways in ordinary buildings are always open, permitting the rapid ascent from one floor to another of the flames, thus spreadingthe iire rapidly through the building.

It is one of the principal objects of my present invention to obviate this liability in re-proof buildings to the spread of iire, and to this end I propose to separate the combustible portions of the building by a fireproof partition and in part by an inclosed portion provided by lire-proof walls, and locate the elevators and stairway or the like in the rear part of said inclosed portion for conimunicating between the several floors of the building, and locate recesses or extensions in ther incidental advantage that in case of fire the means of ascent for iiremen and inmates are protected from destruction and from being rendered impassable by heat.

My invention further consists in certain details of construction incidentalb to and adapted for the general features outlined above.

In the drawings forminga partof this specification and. annexed hereto, Figure l is a front elevation of a building in which my improvement has been introduced, a part of the front wall of the saine being broken away to show the interior construction. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, taken in cross-section on the line 2 2, Fig. l.

The tire-proof wall A divides the building into the two parts referred to above, and branching from this main wall are two secondary fire-proof walls, B and O, connecting the main wall A with one of the outer walls of the building, and inclosing between them and the outer wall the vacant space G, in which are located the stairway D, the freightelevator E, and the passenger elevator F. The only means of communication between the inclosed space G and the other parts of the building are through the doors II and I, located in recesses or extensions of the inclosed space, said recesses or extensions being designated by the letters J and K. The outer wall of this inclosed space is formed in part of window-glass, L, and sheet-iron, M, the latter being placed near the floor of each story and the former between it and the ceiling, the object being to have near the floor in each case a material not easily damaged by merchandise handled in the elevator passageway, and to so locate the window-glass as to most effectually light the interior space, and also to have an exterior wall for the passageway which can be easily broken and penetrated by liremen. This glass-andfiron structure may extend over the entire front of the inclosed space G, instead of across its.central portion merely, as shown in the drawings, and this is indeed probably the preferable construction, for the reason that it is desirable to have as Wide a space as possible adapted for easy entrance into the building, and it is IOO also desirable that the windows should have l coiisiderable expanse. i

The construction being as described, it will i be seen that if one apartment of the building l takes fire the llames cannot reach the other i apartment through the doors I and ll without i traversing the entire space between them, an d. as this space is free from combustible material, and there are no other passage-ways between the two parts ot the building, the one part is practically eut oii from the other as regards fire.

The stairways and elevators are preferably constructed of metal. Nevertheless, the peculiar form of the space G, it being provided with recesses or extensions K, through which the heat and liames must pass to reach the elevators and stairway, would aiiord protection for the latter, even it they were made ot combustible materials. These recesses or extensions should be of the minimum width required for the communicating doors, which in most commercial buildings would probably be about six feet, and a length equal to their width would probably be sulhcient to render them effectual, although in the drawings they are represented as considerably longer t-han their width. Stand-pipes O, t'or carrying water to tl1etop of the building, are located, as shown, within the space G.

It will be understood that the several. .teatures of my invention, hereinbetore described, are to acertain extent independent of each other, and I desire to protect them separately, as well as in combination. Thus the inclosed space G would be to a considerable extent ettectual were the doors placed in its walls without the recesses J and K, although the construction with the recesses is in my judgment superior to the construction without them. So, too, the inclosed space maybe devoted exclusively to the purpose of preventing the passage or" fire from one part ot' the building to the other, and the stairways and elevators may be elsewhere located. So, too, this passage-way might be used in the interior of the building, or, if adjoining an exterior wall, the peculiar .formation of that wall, herein described, consisting of glass and sheetiron, might be dispensed with without alto-` gether giving up the advantages of my construction. It will also be seen that any number ot' these spaces and communicatingdoors may be applied to a single building in (litterent parts thereof, the number required being dependent upon the number of ire proof walls and the uses to which the buildin is to be put.

lt will also be observed that my invention would have utility were it confined merely to the features ot' the recesses J and K; for supposing that the two parts of the building were separated from each other by the walls A and l B alone, the space G being entirely dispensed with, even then the flames would have to pass l from the door I entirelythrough the recess K before Afinding any material to leed upon, and it this recess were of sutlicient length, passage olf the `flames through it would be practically impossible. \Vhen the vacant space G is merely used a protection for the elei vators and stairways, there may be but a single door or set of doors, l, into the vacant space, instead ot' the two doors shown; or the number of such doors may be increased, as desired.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

l. A building provided with combustible portions separated by a fire-proof wall, an intermediate vacant portion formed by two seeondary fire-proof walls, and doors located at the rear end ot angular recesses or extensions formed by said secondary walls, the doors communicating, respectively, with the said combustible portions, substantially as described.

2. A building provided with a ire-proot partition-wall, A, secondary lire-proof walls (i and B, connecting said partition-wall with the exterior wall oli' the bl'iilding and forming recesses J and K therewith, and doors H and I, located in said recesses J and K and opening, respectively, into the separated main portions of the building, substantially as described.

3. In a building, the eonlbination, with combustiblc portions separated from each other in part by a {ire-proof partition and in part by an inclosed portion provided with fire-proof walls, of elevators, stairways, or the like located inthe rear part ot said inclosed portion for communication between the several floors ol' the building, and recesses or extensions in the front part of said inclosed portion provided with doors opening into the combustible portions, substantially as described.

4t. In a fire-proof building, the combination of fire-proof wall A, walls (l and B, connecting said wall A with one of the exterior walls of the building, sheet-metal plates M, windowglass L, 'and communicating doors ll I, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ROBERT S. CRITCI [ELU Witnesses:

Fnnnrmici; C. GOODWIN, E. ly. IIUnEn.

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